Laughing Gas
by CatalystOfTheSoul
Summary: ANGST DAY! Danny takes a trip to the dentist. Rated 'T' for a good reason. Enjoy. Oh yeah, happy angst day.


**ANGST DAY! Danny goes to the dentist. And (as my initial summary implies) it is positively dripping angst, rated 'T' for a good reason. Enjoy. **

**Disclaimer: Sadly, Danny Phantom doesn't belong in my angst filled clutches...yet. :evil grin: Oh yeah, I have no owning to Youtube either, I just mention it as an authors tool...and nor do I want to own it, really.**

**p.s. I dedicate this to MoonlightUmbreon and Shining Zephyr, without whom angst day would not exist. Thanks!  
**

* * *

"Mom, do I _have_ to go?" The blue eyed teen pleaded for one final time with his mother as the large vehicle he was trapped in pulled to a stop beside a blue minivan.

Maddie sighed, "Yes Danny, you have to go."

"But I don't feel anything, see!" Danny took a pen out of the glove compartment and tapped it on his upper tooth. He winced.

Maddie wasn't going to budge. "I saw that young man. If you want the pain to go away, then you're going to have to step in there and deal with your fears."

Maddie unbuckled and agilely hopped out of the vehicle. Danny—partially to procrastinate the inevitable and partially to look normal compared to his mothers stealth— stumbled out of the car, barley twisting his body in time to slam into the blue minivan instead of concrete.

"Ow!" Danny whined, clutching his jaw and clinging to the car for support. He'd made the mistake of clenching his teeth when going down and the slow, dull pain on his tooth flared into full force.

Maddie walked around the car and folded her arms. "You deserved that." Danny looked up, shock his mother would say something...well, rude. He couldn't read her eyes behind their hood, but he had no doubt she looked disapproving.

Danny had gotten good at reading her face without having to see the eyes, as he could now tell by the twitch in her frown she had gone from disappointed to worry. She shifted closer to place a hand on his shoulder, "Danny," her tone was exasperated, and carried a small hint of humor to it, "I've seen you jump out of this car hundreds of times, and never once have you actually fallen. I _know_ you were trying to stall,"—and here she smiled—"as that saying goes, mothers know best. Or 'mother knows all' if you state it correctly. Come on, Danny, I can read you like an open book."

She held out her hand and Danny took it, not commenting on how 'open' he seemed to her, the blush that crawled up his cheeks wasn't embarrassment, as his mother would think.

Guilt has the ability to make one blush as well. But that simply hid his emotions further from her; half of what he did looked like something normal in his mothers' eyes, Danny had learned over these past two years how to hide his emotions.

For example, the universal facial expression for worry was a frown. He frowned only when annoyed or should be worried, but wasn't. He hid pain behind a smile. True worry was expressed in little gestures, like holding his mothers' hand, touching Jazz's red hair, or encouraging his fathers ghost-related rants. Anything that would make him think; _will I ever get a chance to see/hear/touch/smell this again?_

Danny sighed and hastily got up to walk with his mom. He was shaking, and not in fear. Shaking was just another mask; it didn't stand for fear or anger, but annoyance.

Danny was scheduled for an hour and fifteen minute root canal surgery on his upper left tooth, number fourteen. He knew this from listening to the dentist talk and assign him amoxicillin and pain meds for the next week.

Not that he took any of that stuff, his ghost powers were excellent at keeping him healthy…it would keep the problem from spreading.

Danny was now realizing that brushing his teeth more often would be a good idea, seeing that his powers didn't seem to cover that particular field. Or he never tried honing them to do so, as keeping his limbs and back intact while being smashed into walls seemed a more pressing matter.

It wasn't that he would tell anyone he was wasting his parents' money by not taking the prescription, but really, what difference would it make? He could handle the infection, and he couldn't take anything stronger then aspirin for pain, it would make his stomach churn and twist for a long period of time, medicine had effected him like that ever since he broke his leg at age eight and took something too strong.

Truly, what would be the point in taking medicine that would most likely make him sick? That and…he hated taking medicine with a passion and avoided it at all costs.

Danny sighed as he opened the door for Maddie and walked in behind her, immediately trailing to the stairs. He _was_ annoyed. If it got around the Ghost Zone that he would be stuck in surgery for over an hour then mass chaos was sure to ensue.

His mom would have to leave, and the moment he got out he would have to shake off the numbness and fight. Danny could see it now, only half of his face holding expression and lopsided smiles that instilled humiliation on himself. He really would rather skip this appointment.

Maybe if he told her that he had to study right now and couldn't stay for the appointment…or perhaps Skulker would decide to be merciful and attack, she would be too distracted to notice him slip away.

Just then Maddie turned around, he almost ran into her, realizing they had left the staircase behind and stood in front of the dreaded office. He gulped.

He wasn't scared, no way could the knots in his gut be fear, he'd faced down far worse then this. The 'death' of his family right before him, Pariah Dark, Vlad flirting with his mom, Freakshow controlling his own mind, no way could a dentist appointment scare him, not compared to what he faced every day.

Maddie frowned, one of her dominant expressions today, but this frown stood for sympathy. He knew it well, seen it directed at bruises he attempted vainly to hide, pointing it to bullies at school who simply had a large disliking for him (which in rare cases was true, he couldn't keep his cover and escape Dash's fists _every_ time).

"Danny, I know you're scared, but trust me. He won't do anything to hurt you." She smiled and put a hand to his cheek. "It'll be over before you know it, trust me."

Danny took in a shuddering breath, squared his shoulders, and secretly prayed for a ghosts' appearance, even Vlad would be a merciful move at this point. Closing his eyes, he opened the door, and rushed one of the seats.

Maddie walked to the smiling receptionist, and they chatted aimlessly while Danny clutched the armrests and searched for some form of off button to the 'soothing' jazz music that made things even worse. Jazz music was his signal, what was played whenever one of _his_ kind was working in their own element.

There was no escaping the cream colored walls, the disgusting rubbery scent that made one wish to hurl, or the _tap, tap_ of his shoes as he walked down the hall and towards the waiting room.

Danny tensed when he entered. The black formal-casual shoes, the blue scrubs, that ironic smile, the drab black hair (not nearly as sharp or noticeable as Dannys'), the way he turned to look _directly_ at the slightly trembling teen. As if trying to hide from the gaze, Danny sank lower into the clearly uncomfortable chair.

Constantly his mind repeated the same words; _I am not afraid. I am not afraid. I am not afraid. I am not—_

"Daniel Fenton."

He squeaked, so quietly that the sound of a scuttling mouse could have overridden the noise. Danny looked pleadingly into his eyes, but the man only smiled encouragingly in turn, inviting Danny into his doom.

Maddie came over, "Do you want me to go with you sweetie?" Afraid his voice would break if he tried to talk; he shook his head and moved mechanically forward, into the hall that leads to the office.

Everything was set out; tools that Danny knew were for the most painful of torture sessions. His legs were shaking, and the doctor directed him to a chair, he froze.

What the hell was he thinking '_I'm not afraid_.'? He was scared out of his mind and about to willingly submit to torture. Why couldn't a ghost punch him so hard that the tooth simply fell out and he wouldn't even be here!

Danny tried to turn away, to move, but his feet weren't listening. With a mind of there own they carried him to the chair and he sat down. Danny refused to listen as the doctor tried to make small talk with him. He wasn't in the mood for small talk.

When his chair started to fall backwards, he wouldn't go with it. Shaking nervously, he looked pleadingly once more at the doc. The professional frowned and asked if Danny was okay. He shook his head. "Five more minutes, please just give me five minutes."

His tormentor's frown creased, "You're already forty-five minutes late. We all have to go home sometime, you know."

The nurse/helper whatever they were called person came in. He was young, about in his early twenties, and listened as Danny explained to him why he needed time. The doctor left the room for a minute. And Danny was relived, thinking that he had gotten what he asked for.

The male nurse entertained until the doc came back, with some sort of oxygen tank in tow. Danny almost flew back out of his seat, eying it warily. "This is laughing gas," The dentist explained, "it will help to calm down your nerves, settle your mind."

Danny pressed into the armrest, "It's a drug." Danny stated, not at all happy with the circumstances.

The man nodded, "In a way, yes, but don't worry, it's nothing addicting. I promise it will only help you."

Danny didn't trust the guy, but the nurse convinced him after a bit of prompting. As soon as Danny lay back, they put the gas mask over his nose. _So that is the smell, _he wondered idly, _that always makes me want 'blow chunks' as dad would put it._

After a while as the horribly scented gas began to settle, the doctor put a numbing cream on his gums. Danny closed his eyes when the needle full of anesthetic came, knowing that if he looked, he would bolt. Calming gas or no, he disliked the dentist office more then Tucker feared hospitals, which was saying something.

The needle part was over quickly, and Danny was left alone until it became difficult to blink with the left eye because that had become half-numb. They took away the gas for the time being, and the male nurse—Chris—talked a mainly one-sided conversation with Danny.

When the dentist returned, Danny's fear had come with it. The chair was re-lowered down. Before a word could be gotten in, Danny's sense of forbidding flowed over, "Whatever happens," He started, speech slightly slurred from numbness, "don't tell my mom."

Chris smiled, "No problem dude. In here it's like a councilors office, the only things that come out are strictly need to know. If you happen to throw up on the doc, we won't tell. But, I may put a picture on Youtube if that's okay."

Danny rolled his eyes and the dentist cast a humorous glare at Chris. They seemed to be doing all they could to loosen the atmosphere. "If you do start to feel sick, or any kind of pain, raise your left hand okay?" Danny nodded to the doc. "Alright, you're doing fine."—he reapplied the gas mask—"just breathe through your nose, and we'll be done quickly."

Danny did so, closing his eyes and obeying verbal commands such as opening his mouth and acknowledging to those working on him that he was still alive. He flinched when they began to drill, but refused to notice what was happening, instead he felt as if his body were taking a trip.

The world would spin and twist, he would move with it…and he wondered the strangest things. What would happen if his top stayed still, and his bottom half twisted over? What would it feel like?

Could he burn a hole through the ceiling panel above him? Surely if he glared at it long enough it would shrink away in fear of his gaze.

What would he do if he heard screams around him? He would jump to the rescue, of course, he was Danny Phantom, and Danny Phantom helped to protect people.

Wait…why couldn't he go flying right now? It was such a nice day earlier, he could almost taste the wind, hear a rush of air past his ears.

Danny breathed in deeply, no he decided; he would stay and let whoever was working on him finish. What were they doing again?

Danny searched his memory back, seeking an answer. But all he got were blocks…angry he dug deeper…yes, he remembered now. He walked willingly into the arms of torture. Someone was torturing him?

No way was he going to take that lying down. Danny triggered his transformation, turning intangible to rid himself of all the annoyances that were holding him down. _Stupid,_ he thought, _stupid, stupid, they forgot to make the bindings they used ghost-proof._

Grinning lopsidedly, for some reason they had taken away the feeling of half of his mouth…odd, no one's ever done that to him before. He spun, firing off a green ecto-blast at someone in blue…the Box Ghost? No, this ghost was different. But he heard screams. They were hurting people…Danny Phantom defended people. Who ever it was is in big trouble.

Tripping over himself, Danny stumbled onto sharp points. No, someone was trying to stick him with those sharp points, Danny laughed. They forgot to make there weapons ghost harm-able as well. His wounds fixed themselves immediately after infliction.

Danny teetered forth, his lower body twisting and ringing itself. He let that half of him play in the wondrous cloud that surrounded his essence, all he needed were hands to stop this monster.

The screaming intensified as he searched for the throat of another blue-clad being. Holding out hands, he only caught a glimpse of purple in his vision before he slammed into the side wall. Laughing happily in bliss, he lost his ghost form and fell back into human, and blacked out.

* * *

Five minutes previous

Maddie flipped idly through her magazine. Michel, the receptionist, had told her that Danny was going to be a while. Unfortunately, the office was yet to collect any of the new ghost magazines for this month.

Amity had its own featured 'Ghost Times' with herself and Jack at the headlines almost as often as there notorious poltergeist, Danny Phantom. She had already read the current magazine cover to cover, twice. So she didn't see much point in doing it again

But…this issue did happen to have the rudimentary rules on how to charge and fire an ecto-gun. She flipped to the page and sighed, noting for the third time her husbands' typos. Maddie would be surprised if anyone learned anything at all from this…it didn't say much in the way of how to work an ecto-gun, it was more centered on Jack's accomplishments.

She allowed a small smile to grace her features; that was Jack for you. Distractiable and predictable. She loved him for it all the same.

Maddie eagerly re-read the article, chuckling at her husbands more ridiculous jaunts. If only he would let her _edit_ sometimes, then she could at least make it understandable to someone not of the Fenton lineage.

Finishing the piece that can barley pass for accurate writing, she replaced the magazine on the table and hummed to herself, taking out a new ecto-weapon that she completed only that morning, and commenced pulling it apart.

Only a few pieces had been taken out when she heard it. A muffled scream coming from the hall her son had previously entered. Worried she jumped up, eying the door suspiciously.

"What was that?" She asked.

Michel's brow furrowed. "Not the first time I've ever heard someone scream…but normally because the doc is about to start and the patient freaks…and that sounded kinda like…"

"Who?" Maddie wondered, taking a cautious step to the door.

Michel jumped up, at the same time two more screams pierced the air, "…Chris." Her eyes widened, and she disappeared behind the counter to run for whoever Chris was.

Maddie wasn't far behind, charging into the hallway and brandishing the partially taken apart weapon in front of her. She raced behind Michel, and it wasn't too hard to find a petrified and wounded young man lying on the floor, looking into an open doorway in terror.

"Chris!" The receptionist shouted, falling to her knees beside him with a pained cry escaping her lips.

Maddie looked from him and to the door, and a haggard dentist moved backwards out of it, his hand slashing forward with a sharp looking tool as a dangerous weapon. Someone laughed.

Maddie knew that laugh. She'd heard it before, when the Wisconsin Ghost had laughed upon ripping her away from Jack. It was a laugh that signified insanity, how could she ever forget it?

It was then that the dentist stumbled over his assistant, and tumbled to the ground. White gloved and glowing hands reach out, searching, and finally, Danny Phantom stepped forward, out of the protection of the doorway.

His eyes were delirious and he had an ironic and disgustingly lopsided smile on his face. The lower half of him twisted and rippled, ringing itself in and out like a wet cloth. The sight disgusted her, and she stumbled back as the legs bound together and expanded to form a miniature black cloud at his waist.

Without another thought encompassing her mind, her blue clad hand snapped up and she fired. An oddly purple blast came out and hit the ghost spot-on. He slammed into the opposite wall, and, still laughing two bright rings engulfed him, and in the place of Danny Phantom, Danny Fenton giggled hysterically.

Her son's eyes flickered from blue to green and back to blue, he slumped onto the floor.

All noise stopped, Maddie stared at her boy.

Not a soul moved. Everyone present was too shocked, Maddie first among them spoke. Shaking she whispered her child's name. He didn't move.

She looked down at the simple low powered ecto-gun in her hands, the attachments still out, it almost looked skeleton-like without its metal cover.

She turned it over in her hands, somehow one shot from such low power had taken out Danny Phantom…no, her son. _Was Danny being possessed? _She wondered. A shot from her gun could easily injure a human being, but not so easily a powerful ghost. If Danny had been possessed…she tumbled forward, not even feeling the pain her knees received upon meeting the tiles.

"Danny…" She put a hand to his face. "What happened?" Tears streamed down her face as she checked her boy's pulse. Faint, not normal, but even. His skin was cold to her touch.

Someone coughed, but she did not turn. "He…seemed too scared of the operation; we gave him laughing gas to calm him down." Maddie turned around sharply, and the injured assistant hesitated. "After a while, his legs went all…twisty on us and—I admit—I screamed."

He took in a labored breath, "Michel, call an ambulance." She nodded and rocketed back to her desk. Her faint yet frantic voice could be heard from down the hall. "His eyes," Chris continued, "Opened and shot some green substance at the ceiling. It burned a hole right through."

Chris closed his eyes. The dentist continued for him, "We both shouted at that point. Then he sort of…changed, like what he just did, but in reverse. It—he went through all of our equipment and…shot Chris. I—I tried to fight back, in order to protect my nephew, but the cuts I created healed instantly after I made them. That's about when you showed up."

Maddie shook her head, refusing to believe it. She checked her son's pulse again, it was slower. Michel reentered. "It's rush hour, even with sirens, I think they might be a while, maybe fifteen minutes to a half hour. Can you last that long Chris?" The nurse nodded.

Maddie mechanically moved her head from side to side. "He won't."

"What?" Three voices asked in unison.

Maddie sniffed. "His temperature, too low, his pulse, slowing down…" Maddie's breath hitched in her throat.

Michel put a hand on her shoulder, and fear coated the woman's tone. "What _is_ he Maddie?"

Maddie looked up, pained. "I don't know." She whispered.

The group lapsed into silence, only Chris's labored breathing interrupted the flow. They waited, but no sirens pierced the air. Suddenly, a low chuckle filled the room, followed by a hiss of pain.

All heads snapped around to focus on the blue eyes of a teenager. He smiled lamely, half of his face too lax to twitch. "I thought I implied that drugs—of any form—aren't good for me."

His head lolled back, and he giggled, "Mental note: laughing gas equals bad."

With that, his eyes rolled back into his head and he stopped breathing. Maddie launched forward, supporting her son shakily. "Danny?"

"…"

"Danny!"

Sirens flooded the air. But for one, they would be too late.

* * *

**XD, Happy Angst Day everyone! My very first character death that was _not _in a dream. And I am so sorry I hit the cliche Maddie accidentally kills her son stereotype...but when this angst-shot struck me, I couldn't let it go.**

**Ahh! I'm terrible at angst! I'm a pacifist, okay? This is difficult! Battle scenes I can handle...but killing isn't my playing field, so imagine my shock when I just now decided to change it to death on my very last edit run-over of this thing. Oh well, I hope I fulfilled expectations and beyond for today's posting!**

**This fic was inspired by my own trip to the dentist for a root canal...heh, yeah, I really _do _fear the dentist with every fiber of my being for reasons unknown to me. I guess this could be the reason why...you never know if you're going to get out of there alive, right? XP**

**Thanks again to Shiny and Moon (hope neither of you are offended at my shortened your pennames) for creating DP-angst day! I was more then happy to participate, and I relished the chance to try out my depression skills. Review if you are happy for this day too, or support our cause, or because you wish to flame me, or because you feel like it! Whatever! I love it all the same! XD**

**Have a great angst-filled October 1st, and don't forget to break out into random dance sequences!**

**Catalyst**


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